Can Too Much Similarity Between Donors Crowd out Charitable Donations? an Experimental Investigation of the Role of Similarity in Social Influence on Giving Behavior

Can too much similarity between donors crowd out charitable donations? An experimental investigation of the role of similarity in social influence on giving behavior Yuan Tian, Doctoral Fellows Program 2017 Yuan Tian, Ph.D., is an Assistant Research Professor at the School of International and Public Affairs at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Her research areas are philanthropy, nonprofit fundraising, nonprofit accountability, and social entrepreneurship. She can be reached at [email protected]. Research Question Does too much similarity between actual and potential donors actually decrease the chances that a potential donor will give or decrease the amount they will give? Brief Abstract Previous research suggests that people are motivated to donate to a cause when other people who are similar to them have generously donated to this cause. This study examines whether there is such a thing as too much visual similarity between generous donors and potential donors, and if there is a level at which potential donors become less likely to give or give a smaller amount. It finds that while people are more likely to donate (or donate more) when other generous donors appear moderately similar to themselves, they are less likely to donate (or are likely to donate less) when other generous donors are highly similar to themselves. This suggests that organizations seeking donations should aim to emphasize moderate, but not high, facial similarity between generous donors and potential donors. Key Findings Opportunities for Action ► Potential donors are more likely to give ► Nonprofits’ fundraising strategies should (and give a larger amount) when others take into account the fact that moderate who look moderately similar to them give similarity of appearance between generous generously. donors and potential donors works best to ► Potential donors are less likely to give (or promote giving. are likely to give less) when others who ► Emphasizing a high amount of similarity look highly similar to them give may not always be successful. generously. Find This Paper This paper is published in Current psychology. DOI: 10.1007/s12144-020-00616-4 Research Overview Doctoral Fellows Program Current Psychology https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-020-00616-4 Can too much similarity between donors crowd out charitable donations? an experimental investigation of the role of similarity in social influence on giving behavior Yuan Tian1 & Sara Konrath2 # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020 Abstract How is charitable giving influenced by other donors’ giving? Do people give more in the presence of donors who are similar to themselves? Most research suggests that individuals are positively influenced by similar others across a variety of behaviors. In the charitable giving context, if similar others donate, individuals are more likely to donate (or donate more) to the same cause. Yet, prior research has paid little attention to a potential non-linear relationship between similarity and charitable giving. Is there such thing as too much similarity? A between-subject laboratory experiment (N = 140) was designed to test a non-linear relationship between individuals’ similarity to other donors and their charitable giving. The study concludes that moderate similarity promotes more giving, yet too much similarity between donors may actually crowd out charitable giving. Keywords Social influence . Philanthropy . Charitable giving . Charitable donations . Similarity . Facial morphing Introduction Kelman 1958). Specifically, we examine whether charitable donations are driven by one’s similarity to other donors. In 2018, individual Americans donated $292.09 billion, which accounted for 68% of the total giving amount in the United States (Giving USA 2019). Given this, it is important to un- How Similarity Influences Behavior derstand factors that influence people’s decision making in charitable giving. Why do people give their money to others? Similarity is an important psychological construct, and usually Research has identified many factors that affect charitable positively affects many kinds of individual behaviors, such as giving, including other-oriented motives (i.e. altruism, trust) aggression (Baron 1971), counter-aggression (aggressive re- and self-oriented motives (i.e. egoism, tax breaks; Konrath actions to others’ aggression) (Hendrick and Taylor 1971), and Handy 2018). The current paper focuses on the role of interpersonal attraction (Byrne 1961; Secord and Backman social influence, when people’s decision-making and behav- 1964), consumer purchasing behavior (Woodside and iors are influenced by others (Cialdini and Goldstein 2004; Davenport 1974), alcohol consumption (Andsager et al. 2006), and compliance (Burger et al. 2004; Silvia 2005). In general, similarity also affects a variety of prosocial behaviors in a positive way, such as helping (Sole et al. 1975), Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article comforting and rescuing (Eagly and Koenig 2006), coopera- (https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-020-00616-4) contains supplementary tion (Sinervo and Clobert 2003), and positive social interac- material, which is available to authorized users. tions (Boivin et al. 1995; Lee et al. 1999). * Yuan Tian [email protected] Similarity in Charitable Giving 1 School of International and Public Affairs, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, No. 1954 Huashan Rd. Xin Jian Building, Room 261, Similarity also plays an important role in charitable giving, Xuhui District, Shanghai 200040, CN, China specifically. With charitable giving, there are different ways 2 Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, Indiana University, that similarity can affect donation behavior because of the Indianapolis, IN, USA different roles involved. Curr Psychol Donor Similarity to Solicitors People are more likely to give scored high in narcissism. For less narcissistic people, simi- (and give more) when they are asked by similar others (or larity appeared to backfire, with higher similarity leading to asked in the presence of similar others), for example, by those more aggression (see Fig. 2 in their paper). Another study who share the same religious background or first name measured different levels of similarity using participants’ (Bekkers 2010; Yinon and Sharon 1985). self-report rating of another person’s photograph. It found that participants reported lower attraction when similarity was too Donor Similarity to Recipients In addition, individuals are high (Penton-Voak et al. 1999). Another study used facial more likely to give (and give more) to similar recipients, for morphing to manipulate similarity between voters and politi- example, to those who share the same religious beliefs (Helms cal candidates. It found that among females, but not males, and Thornton 2012; Yinon and Sharon 1985) or to other in- high similarity led to lower warm feelings, voting intentions, group recipients who share the same political views, sports- and attractiveness ratings of the candidates (Bailenson et al. team preferences, or music preferences (Ben-Ner et al. 2009). 2009). Yet, some research has found a positive effect of increasing Donor Similarity to Other Donors In the current paper, we levels of similarity. For example, one study manipulated four examine how individuals’ responses differ depending upon levels of similarity that participants shared with other people their level of facial similarity to other donors. Studies have (i.e., 2, 4, 6, or 8 shared activity preferences). The greater found that people are influenced when they see similar others number of activities that participants believed they shared making donations. For example, a field experiment on tourist with others (i.e. higher similarity), the more attractive those skiers found that 44% of participants made a charitable dona- others were rated (Moreland and Zajonc 1982). Another study tion when they were told that other fellow skiers made a do- found that participants in an uncommon fingerprint condition nation, while only 22% of participants donated when partici- (high similarity) were more likely to comply with the request- pants did not have any information about previous donors’ er than participants in the common fingerprint (moderate sim- charitable giving (Heldt 2005). Another field experiment on ilarity) or control conditions (Burger et al. 2004). Another a sample of National Public Radio (NPR) members found that study used facial morphing to manipulate high similarity, participants donated more after being told that another NPR and found that high similarity increased participants’ cooper- member of the same gender donated, than when they were told ation in public good games compared with no morphing (i.e. that another NPR member of the other gender donated (Shang low similarity) (Krupp et al. 2008). et al. 2007). Thus, at times, people may be more likely to Taken together, because there are very few studies donate in the presence of a similar other. that manipulate more than one level of similarity, it is difficult to know if there is such thing as too much Research Question and Hypothesis Development similarity. In addition, no studies that we are aware of have examined potential negative effects of high simi- We aim to extend previous work on the effect of facial similarity within charitable giving contexts. In this study, we larity to other donors in charitable giving. As reported above, manipulate different levels of donor-donor similarity similarity

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